Car News Articles

Yup, there it was, buried in an Automotive News [AN, sub] story announcing that Pontiac dealers aren’t going to get a Trans Am version of the new Chevrolet Camaro. You know, the Canadian-built rear wheel-drive muscle car that’s due out this spring. Sorry, I mean fall. Winter. OK, February ‘09. Anyway, GM told a meeting of B-P-G (Buick, Pontiac, GMC) dealers that “new legislation requiring vehicles to reach a fleet average of 35 mpg by 2020″ has plucked the screaming chicken. In fact, Pontiac “might not end up as GM’s performance division.” [NB: I think that means that none of GM’s eight U.S. brands gets a performance remit.] “The plan is being tweaked because of the gas situation,” revealed Lynn Thompson, owner of Thompson Motor Sales in Springfield, Mo. “I hope they don’t give up on performance because they don’t have to. You can use four-cylinder engines to achieve incredible power.” To placate any B-P-G dealer deluded enough to expect something roughly akin to coherent branding from GM, the American automaker also announced that they’re unleashing 12 new or special-edition vehicles over the next 20 months. (Sneak peak! Get ready for a special-edition GMC Sierra pickup called “Pro Grade.”) In case you’re wondering what separates a Pontiac from a Chevy, Buick or Saturn (or anything else) now that the former “We Build Excitement” division isn’t building excitement, I have no idea. Does anyone?

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38 Responses to “
Pontiac Performance Branding Officially Dead ”

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• Jonathon :
  
  
  February 15th, 2008 at
  5:56 pm

  Dang. I actually like the look of that Trans Am more than the forthcoming Camaro.

  Chevy = mass consumer market
  Pontiac = fleet sales?

• ajla :
  
  
  February 15th, 2008 at
  5:58 pm

  Oh, and in case you’re wondering separates a Pontiac from a Chevy, Buick or Saturn (or anything else), now that they’re ditching the performance shtick, I have no idea. Does anyone?

  Plastic body molding, faux spoilers, and, of course, DRIVING EXCITEMENT!

• NickR :
  
  
  February 15th, 2008 at
  5:59 pm

  At least when they had side cladding they had some sort of identity.

• jthorner :
  
  
  February 15th, 2008 at
  6:08 pm

  How about firing everyone at GM making over $200,000 per year, promoting whoever is left.

  Tell ‘em all they have 24 months to turn it around or shut ‘er down.

  Sometimes in Scrabble the only move is to throw in your letters and start over. Clearly GM management can’t get any more incoherent than it already is.

  Advertising cars that don’t exist like the Volt, taking all the plastic cladding off Pontiac and replacing the old image with, well, nothing, spending a bunch of money to give new products to the brand nobody cares about (Saturn) and on and on.

  These guys are overpaid chimps.

• Jeffer :
  
  
  February 15th, 2008 at
  6:12 pm

  Pontiac = Chevrolet with split grille
  Buick = Chevrolet with velour seats
  Cadillac = Chevrolet with velour seats and chrome
  GMC = Chevrolet with GMC badges
  Daewoo = Chevrolet without Chevrolet
  I have to second Jonathon, Pontiac version would look better. The all black, undisguised tester Camaro looks like it rear-ended something due to the droopy hood falling over the headlights.

• Wunsch :
  
  
  February 15th, 2008 at
  6:13 pm

  That Trans Am does look pretty sharp. And much, much better than the forthcoming Camaro.

• Brian E :
  
  
  February 15th, 2008 at
  6:19 pm

  How about building economical cars that drive well, like the Mazda3 or the lesser-engined BMWs that aren’t sold here? Oh, yeah, that takes true engineering and manufacturing competence.

• seoultrain :
  
  
  February 15th, 2008 at
  6:28 pm

  low-powered-engines are not the enemy of performance. Weight is the enemy of performance. But who am I kidding? This is America.

• Megan Benoit :
  
  
  February 15th, 2008 at
  7:34 pm

  So what does this mean? More G5/Cobalt clones, because they’ve got the best gas mileage GM can produce out of a regular engine (granted it doesn’t meet the new CAFE standards but then, what does?). And there’s the daewoo… er, Aveo. Which might.

  *sigh* Or they can just suck it up and pay the fines, or weasel their way out of it by offering E85 versions of their cars. Which IIRC is how they’ve been getting by, up to this point.

• TriShield :
  
  
  February 15th, 2008 at
  7:41 pm

  Not so fast, muscle isn’t quite dead at Pontiac.

  The G8 sedan and G8 ST will both carry the tire-smoking, sideways-driving, muscle car banner at Pontiac for awhile.

  The G8 line will add a GXP model for 2009 which includes the Corvette’s LS3 V8 and it will offer a six-speed manual. Holden begins production on MY2009 G8s March 2nd and more official details about it will be released this summer, or sooner perhaps.

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